The First Sith: Experience Points and Character Levels

[Dawyn]

So I understand the relative power rankings when it comes to FS characters, but what about non-FS characters? Do they get more personal "assets" to play with and use against other players? E.g. a level 3 Hutt Lorda would have more resources and criminals under his command than a level one enforcer? A level one naval officer having fewer ships than a level 4 Admiral? A level one businessman having less financial influence than...so on and so forth? Or is it something else entirely?

 

[Tsunami]

So says that the Jedi Grandmaster should be able to take on multiple apprentices, however how will this work in a writing sense? PvP this timeline was balanced because your character was only as good as the way you write, however that says to me that there will be leniency in terms of writing ability this time around?

Also as @Kiser has just mentioned, a level 3 Jedi Counciler gains increased stamina and force power use - What is the combat improvement for say a Non Force Sensitice bounty hunter/merc?

 

[Loco]

I don't think I like this at all, it seems like it would turn this sight more into a game than a roleplay. Also feels like it punishes people who are busy and can't get on often. I would accept completed threads but word count just supports saturating posts with fluff that CAN flavor the experience, but if it's forced by a desire just to rank up then I feel like it will only hurt. In my opinion it's better to leave loopholes for people who don't deserve to level up as fast than to restrict people who do deserve it.

So, to begin with, fluffing was already addressed, so that shouldnt be an issue. As for the rest of this point, I understand the argument, but in counter people should not be rewarded for NOT being here. If you don't have time to post regularly that's a bummer but, frankly, if that's the case then you don't deserve to be rewarded differently than people who do put in the time here. That's just imho though. Not everyone has time for this sort of stuff- myself included sometimes.

I also don't like the idea of making sub accounts mandatory to make this possible, it just seems to complicate things and may make things harder for newer people to the site who are unfamiliar with managing sub accounts and the like. This and personally most of my free time is when I'm out and about on mobile, and sub accounts would be substantially harder or at least more annoying to manage on phone.

I was skeptical of sub accounts the first time we implemented them, because I have the same issue. But I was wrong and it worked fine and most people loved it.

Still disagree with the leveling system making it hard to create a faction character (or at least a Jedi) with any kind of history or backstory, but that is more of a personal opinion to me. However I think starting at a knight instead of a padawan for Jedi is a great way to supplement this, and I DO agree that it solves a problem of making new characters that are too powerful. I just wish there was a little more lenience for the ability to start a character off a little ahead, not very strong or influential but can have a little experience and past.

It goes into the same issue for me that it seems to be turning this site more into a videogame based in writing skills rather than gameplay. That may even be the aim to make this like an old republic recreation, but for people who come here to make a story around/with a character rather than to progress a character's abilities and placement, I don't know how to feel about this.


This is only my initial reaction, and I would love to hear any clarifications or opinions of others. I could very well be wrong with my thoughts or how things are implemented in the end.

[/quote]

Personally, I think all of this piece is a little weird and misplaced, so I'm not really sure how to address your concerns. There's absolutely nothing so far that says you can't have a experience or a past, and there is absolutely nothing keeping you from doing things for the "story"- if anything, this new system looks like it encourages just that much more so than the current one. I'm not sure what you're basing your concerns on- it almost seems like you and I are reading entirely different announcements.


Edit: autocorrect sabotage.

 

[Arcangel]

You bring up a few very good points and i will attempt to address them as best i can.

I don't think I like this at all, it seems like it would turn this sight more into a game than a roleplay. Also feels like it punishes people who are busy and can't get on often. I would accept completed threads but word count just supports saturating posts with fluff that CAN flavor the experience, but if it's forced by a desire just to rank up then I feel like it will only hurt. In my opinion it's better to leave loopholes for people who don't deserve to level up as fast than to restrict people who do deserve it.

In regards to people who are busy and can't get on often, I highly doubt that this system will have any affect on them. Ultimately they will be in the same place as they are this Timeline, as the starting rank will still be that of a Knight or Knight equivalent character. They will progress just as fast and honestly the new system will likely affect them little if at all.

I also don't like the idea of making sub accounts mandatory to make this possible, it just seems to complicate things and may make things harder for newer people to the site who are unfamiliar with managing sub accounts and the like. This and personally most of my free time is when I'm out and about on mobile, and sub accounts would be substantially harder or at least more annoying to manage on phone.

There will be instructions on how to make sub accounts readily available. Its rather simple and switching between sub accounts is rather easy, just selecting the account on a drop down menu. As a primarily mobile user its not a concern of mine.

Still disagree with the leveling system making it hard to create a faction character (or at least a Jedi) with any kind of history or backstory, but that is more of a personal opinion to me. However I think starting at a knight instead of a padawan for Jedi is a great way to supplement this, and I DO agree that it solves a problem of making new characters that are too powerful. I just wish there was a little more lenience for the ability to start a character off a little ahead, not very strong or influential but can have a little experience and past.

It goes into the same issue for me that it seems to be turning this site more into a videogame based in writing skills rather than gameplay. That may even be the aim to make this like an old republic recreation, but for people who come here to make a story around/with a character rather than to progress a character's abilities and placement, I don't know how to feel about this.

This is only my initial reaction, and I would love to hear any clarifications or opinions of others. I could very well be wrong with my thoughts or how things are implemented in the end.

I think you are overestimating how much the level system will affect character freedom. While characters will have to start at the base rank, there is still a fair bit of leniency in that. Characters can still have backgrounds and prior accomplishments, they do not have to start as newly minted knights, just their history and accomplishments in backstory wont carry any notoriety with other characters.

I can assure you that the aim wasn't to make this more videogamey, but rather to put a sense of structure into place that everyone has to abide by. Advancing a characters story and contributing to the plot are ultimately the primary emphasis of the system, not grinding out xp to get new ranks. There will always be players who just try to grind out whatever the achievement is, we saw that this timeline with grid squares and other forms of combat systems. However with this new system the emphasis will be placed on story and development of characters and plots... so is it really that bad if someone tries to grind out their character development if thats the playstyle they enjoy?

Plots for character development and story progression will both be rewarded under the new system, and there will also be rewards for thread completion and PvP. We really tried our best to take all playstyles into account for this system and balance it as best we could to work for everybody. Is it perfect? No of course not, there is always room for improvement and as always we will strive to make it the best system we can that works for as large a majority of the player base as we can.

 

[Dmitri]

So I understand the relative power rankings when it comes to FS characters, but what about non-FS characters? Do they get more personal "assets" to play with and use against other players? E.g. a level 3 Hutt Lorda would have more resources and criminals under his command than a level one enforcer? A level one naval officer having fewer ships than a level 4 Admiral? A level one businessman having less financial influence than...so on and so forth? Or is it something else entirely?

They'd be a more well-oiled machine. Just like in real life, the more experience and training you have, the more skilled you have. For example, you may be able to run longer distances without losing your breath as quickly. Better marksmanship. That sort of thing.

 

[Nor'baal]

How will this work for indie characters - aka those note in factions? Will they have some sort of ranking structure as well or will it just be rank 1-4?

 

[Arcangel]

How will this work for indie characters - aka those note in factions? Will they have some sort of ranking structure as well or will it just be rank 1-4?

Levels will still be 1-4, ranks within the faction will ultimately be up to the writer of the PC or NPC organization. There will also be some degree of personalization and specialization, for example a Hutt Cartel Enforcer who specializes as a Bounty Hunter.

 

[Jinan B]

+1

The only thing I'd slightly worried about would be the weight of the plot based rewards (I, for example, would be more in favour of greater plot based rewards than some others might be), but overall this feels like a very nice addition to the site.

One question I have though is related to the fluff posting. I don't think this would really affect me but I would be interested in how the staff will deal with people who sort of naturally write extra super fluffy posts. Like would there be an out where someone like that could, say, accept a credit reduction in order to not get banned but still write in the way that they naturally enjoy writing. Or would the restrictions be lenient enough that this isn't seen to be smth that will happen at all, let alone be a problem?

 

[Nor'baal]

Awesome.
So - and this is a purely selfish question - as a bounty hunter level 1 - 4 would equate to levels of combat skill and personal reputation, a good contrast being level 1 being that dude from the pub who says he is a bounty hunter and level 4 people 'Holy Shit it's Boba, help me moma."?

 

[Dmitri]

Awesome.
So - and this is a purely selfish question - as a bounty hunter level 1 - 4 would equate to levels of combat skill and personal reputation, a good contrast being level 1 being that dude from the pub who says he is a bounty hunter and level 4 people 'Holy Shit it's Boba, help me moma."?

Indeed.

 

[Logan]

I dig it.

 

[Rorren]

@Loco I'm most lenient on sub accounts because I have no experience, so I'll give them a chance.

And I think a lot of what I'm saying comes from only playing Indy characters in the previous timeline, so I could focus a lot more on just playing for story than trying to take territory. So to me this seems like you can't disadvantage your character at all for conflict's state without nagatively affecting your power increase. That may just be a main faction problem in general, where you needed to be a soldier for your faction and this may be an improvement from that perspective. I guess I'll have to see if I can stick around.

And for the word count it really is just opinion I guess. But that's why I agree with a post amount rather than word account. I don't know if that is tracked on this site but in the end I'm mostly just in base disagreement with making people overly wary of their posting style. I am still skeptical, but I don't think there's too much to fear and I'm hopeful that this new system still leaves space for recreational roleplaying without a huge power imbalance.

 

[Topher Ridge]

Hmm at first I was iffy about the rank=power, but after reading further it seems to be a pretty fair system. Overall I like this.

P.S. @Insalius. We need to talk bud because I had the same idea for a faction next TL.

 

[Arcangel]

@Loco I'm most lenient on sub accounts because I have no experience, so I'll give them a chance.

And I think a lot of what I'm saying comes from only playing Indy characters in the previous timeline, so I could focus a lot more on just playing for story than trying to take territory. So to me this seems like you can't disadvantage your character at all for conflict's state without nagatively affecting your power increase. That may just be a main faction problem in general, where you needed to be a soldier for your faction and this may be an improvement from that perspective. I guess I'll have to see if I can stick around.

And for the word count it really is just opinion I guess. But that's why I agree with a post amount rather than word account. I don't know if that is tracked on this site but in the end I'm mostly just in base disagreement with making people overly wary of their posting style. I am still skeptical, but I don't think there's too much to fear and I'm hopeful that this new system still leaves space for recreational roleplaying without a huge power imbalance.

This new Timeline will have a lessened emphasis on factions and a greater emphasis on individual characters in general. Nobody needs to be a PvP bot for their faction, though PvP will still be relevant. We designed this system and the way factions and plots work in general to account for PvPers and non PvPers alike. So one could hypothetically level and contribute to their faction without doing any PvP... though they would still likely get the target on their back that comes with higher rank.

 

[Dmitri]

Also remember that this is a bit of a pilot. We won't be able to gauge everything without seeing it in action; after all, this is new to the site. Rules/aspects will be updated and amended based on member experiences and how things turn out.

 

[Black Noise]

I don't think I like this at all, it seems like it would turn this sight more into a game than a roleplay. Also feels like it punishes people who are busy and can't get on often. I would accept completed threads but word count just supports saturating posts with fluff that CAN flavor the experience, but if it's forced by a desire just to rank up then I feel like it will only hurt. In my opinion it's better to leave loopholes for people who don't deserve to level up as fast than to restrict people who do deserve it.

I also don't like the idea of making sub accounts mandatory to make this possible, it just seems to complicate things and may make things harder for newer people to the site who are unfamiliar with managing sub accounts and the like. This and personally most of my free time is when I'm out and about on mobile, and sub accounts would be substantially harder or at least more annoying to manage on phone.

Still disagree with the leveling system making it hard to create a faction character (or at least a Jedi) with any kind of history or backstory, but that is more of a personal opinion to me. However I think starting at a knight instead of a padawan for Jedi is a great way to supplement this, and I DO agree that it solves a problem of making new characters that are too powerful. I just wish there was a little more lenience for the ability to start a character off a little ahead, not very strong or influential but can have a little experience and past.

It goes into the same issue for me that it seems to be turning this site more into a videogame based in writing skills rather than gameplay. That may even be the aim to make this like an old republic recreation, but for people who come here to make a story around/with a character rather than to progress a character's abilities and placement, I don't know how to feel about this.


This is only my initial reaction, and I would love to hear any clarifications or opinions of others. I could very well be wrong with my thoughts or how things are implemented in the end.

Having been in many forms of leadership, from indie faction FL and AFL to major faction FL and AFL, and having on this site for many years, I disagree fundamentally with everything you’ve just said.

 

[Rorren]

Yeah I do like that change a lot I just didn't think about it as much because I played indie before. But I can definitely see that having been an issue, and I'll definitely be waiting to experience the new system before I make any actual critiques.

At the very least I think this will be a better system than before, especially for main faction people. I do plan on being part of a main faction this time around so I guess that's a good thing for me, lol.

 

[Nor'baal]

To be honest I've spent enough time railing against the old system to make most if not all people sick to death of hearing it.

This system seems to be a move toward a sandbox approach focusing on character development and stories, not main faction wargaming - and for that reason I think it's brilliant.

Will it need work? Yes.
Can players help? Yes.
Have the admins said it's a pilot? Yes.

Is good? Yes.

 

[Fyston]

Will it be possible to lose a level/rank, be it through the rp, punishment for inactivity, etc?

 

[Arcangel]

Will it be possible to lose a level/rank, be it through the rp, punishment for inactivity, etc?

Levels will remain fixed, so once a character achieves a level, they will retain that notoriety and power.

As far as faction Ranks go.... It might be possible to lose higher ranks, such as the more leadership based ranks of Counciler and Grandmaster through inactivity, as ideally those would be occupied by active members.

One could also lose a rank voluntarily for story purposes, as part of a plot or something.